1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to dressings and scaffolds for wound healing and more specifically to fiber-microsphere composite bioresorbable wound dressings and scaffolds.
2. Description of Related Art
Advances in materials science has led to the development of materials for wound scaffolds and dressings that function to support and protect soft tissues that are slowly resorbed by the body for the convenience and comfort of a patient. The wound scaffolds and dressings are resorbed through chemical and biological processes of the body of a patient, thus eliminating the additional painful process of removing these wound scaffolds and dressings, which are oftentimes partially or wholly attached to the soft tissue itself.
A recent development to wound healing therapy has been the advent of reduced pressure tissue treatment, where a wound scaffold or dressing is applied to an affected area and a reduced pressure is applied to the wound scaffold or dressing to enhance the removal of wound fluids from the wound area and induce granulation tissue formation. Effectively applying such a reduced pressure requires that the wound scaffold or dressing maintain a certain level of porosity to be able to provide fluid flow-through capabilities during the therapy. Conventional wound scaffolds and dressings, such as gauze and the like, tend to compact between the reduced pressure manifold and the soft tissue, thus significantly decreasing the porosity of the scaffold or dressing. Sponge type material is in use as well for such therapies, yet their composition is not of a material that is bioresorbable, thus they must be removed or replaced from the tissue site from time to time, which may cause some discomfort to a patient.